Facilitating sustainable urban air mobility: Social influence and human oversight

• Achieving UAM’s environmental potential requires overcoming psychological barriers. • Social influence interacts with safety measures to foster sustainable adoption. • Users prefer human oversight to full autonomy, urging transitional policy. • Non-technological factors are key to establishing UAM as a green transport mode. Urban air mobility (UAM) has emerged as a promising solution for reducing carbon emissions and enhancing urban sustainability. However, widespread consumer acceptance is critical for realizing these benefits. This study examines the relationship between technological and non-technological determinants using a discrete choice experiment with 511 respondents. Analysis using a mixed logit model reveals that perceived safety and social influence are synergistic rather than merely additive. Specifically, higher market penetration significantly magnifies the impact of safety improvements and acts as a social buffer against risks. Notably, unlike industry roadmaps, consumers strongly preferred partially autonomous UAM systems over fully autonomous ones, suggesting that human oversight is a key fail-safe mechanism. These findings suggest that fostering sustainable adoption requires strategies that build social trust, such as pilot involvement and visible peer adoption, alongside technical innovations to ensure that UAM evolves into a viable green transportation system. Broader UAM adoption makes its eco-friendliness feasible.